Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » FirstMark Capital

NewsCred Raises $4 Million In Series A

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:48:39 +0000

NewsCred has raised $4 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital. Lerer Ventures, AOL Ventures, Advancit Capital, FLOODGATE, and IA Ventures participated in this round of funding.

NewsCred launched in 2008 as a credibility rating service for publishers and authors using a voting system. Then the company relaunched as a social networking service for newspapers last year. Now the company is a newswire service that licenses content from more than 700 premium brands including Bloomberg, Forbes, and The Economist. NewsCred charges customers to use their news API.

NewsCred is now looking to provide publishers and brands with fully licensed and full-text articles, photos, and videos. NewsCredit has in-house editorial teams that goes through thousands of articles for each of their clients’ specific needs. NewsCred also charges a monthly API licensing fee to accessing content, which is based on news story volume. All of the revenue received is shared with the content providers

[TechCrunch]

E-Commerce Website AHAlife Raises $6 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 22:48:54 +0000

AHAlife.com is a New York based e-commerce website that has raised $6 million in funding led by DCM. AHAlife.com is known for selling hard-to-find lifestyle product by fashion designers that include Donna Karan, Wendi Murdoch, and Daniel Boulud.

FirstMark Capital participated in this latest round and AHAlife.com’s $3 million round around March 2010. David Chao (DCM), Gen Isayama (DCM), and Taek Kwon (Toro Investment Partners) have joined AHAlife.com’s board of directors.

[Xconomy]

Bamboom Labs Raises $4.5 Million In Seed Funding

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 04:28:47 +0000

Bamboom Labs is a company that develops technology for watching live TV on the Internet. Bamboom Labs has raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by FirstMark Capital. Other investors include High Line Venture Partners, SV Angel, Highland Capital Partners, and First Round Capital.

Bamboom Labs is led by Chaitanya “Chet” Kanojia. Kanojia’s last start-up Navic Networks was acquired by Microsoft in 2008. Many of Bamboom’s team members include former employees at Navic, Microsoft, Andrew Corporation, and Lucent.

Bamboom Labs rents out personal antennas to customers so that they are responsible for retransmitting the copyright content from the TV to the computer. Bamboom Labs is based in Long Island City, New York.

[VentureBeat]

OpenGamma Raises $6 Million In Series B

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:46:02 +0000

OpenGamma is a financial Internet start-up company based in Europe that has an open source analytics and risk management platform. The company has raised $6 million in Series B financing led by FirstMark Capital. Accel Partners has joined in this round of funding. OpenGamma’s last round of funding was $6 million from Accel.

OpenGamma plans to use the additional funding for increase their sales, marketing, and commercial operations teams. OpenGamma is also planning on opening an office in New York City. Lawrence D. Lenihan, founder and managing director at FirstMark, will be joining the board of directors at OpenGamma.

Sulia Raises $3.5 Million For Sorting People To Follow On Twitter

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 21:24:43 +0000

Sulia is a website that finds and sorts influential Twitter users and groups them into categories. It is a good starting point for Twitter beginners. Sulia has raised $3.5 million in a round led by FirstMarket Capital. Other investors in this round include Village Ventures, IA Ventures, Founder Collective, and SV Angel. Sulia used to be known as TLists. [AllThingsD]

Shopify Raises $7 Million From Bessemer, FirstMark, and Felicis

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:16:40 +0000

Shopify is a software company that helps retailers create online stores. The Ottawa, Canada based company has raised $7 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, and Felicis Ventures. “While we are already profitable, the support gives us additional resources to improve our products and add value for our users,” stated the Shopify CEO and co-founder Tobias Lutke. “Our mission continues to be to make it as easy as possible for retailers of all sizes to start and run a business online.” The Shopify “app store” processes over $100 million per year from clients that include GE, Tesla, and Amnesty International. [Financial Post]

MyCityWay Receives $300K Funding From NYC’s Entrepreneurial Fund

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 25 May 2010 21:29:47 +0000

MyCityWay has raised $300,000 of a $500,000 seed round. MyCityWay is a local search startup company and the funding is being provided by the NYC Entrepreneurial Fund. The announcement was made by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The fund was made in collaboration between FirstMark Capital and the New York City Economic Development Corporation. [BusinessInsider]

Knewton Raises $12.5 Million From FirstMark Capital

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:07:17 +0000

Knewton is an online test preparation startup company that has received $12.5 million in funding from FirstMark Capital. The company was founded by Jose Ferreira. Knewton’s business strategy is to apply web techniques for preparing people that have to take tests such as the MCAT, LSAT, and GMAT. They are offering ways for people to prepare for exams in a way that could be faster than traditional companies such as The Princeton Review or Kaplan.

Riot Games Raises $8 Million Series B

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:44:23 +0000

Riot Games is a social game development company that is best known for creating the League of Legends. Earlier this week Riot Games announced that they have raised about $8 million in Series B. The investors include Benchmark Capital, FirstMark Capital, and Tencent Holdings. Rather than making revenue from advertising, Tencent and Riot games depend on the sales of virtual goods.

Riot Games is currently developing an online game platform which is what the funding will go towards. Considering that Tencent is one of the largest virtual good dealers in China, they may even lend their expertise to Riot Games. The company is licensing the League of Legends in China and will launch in the country by 2010.

Tencent is the parent company of Internet portal QQ.com. They sell virtual goods through their portal, IM software, social networks, and games. These virtual goods include pets, clothing, wallpapers, etc. Tencent made about $700 million last year according to BusinessInsider.

IBiquity Digital Corporation Raises $42 Million From Several Investors

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:38:02 +0000

iBiquity Digital Corporation is a company that develops HD radio technology. It gives radio signals better sound quality and less static. The company has been working on better radio technology on cars and households for several years now.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, iBiquity has raised $42 million in funding from investors such as Grotech Ventures, CBS Radio, Radio One Inc., Entercom Communications, FirstMark Capital, New Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, and Clear Channel Radio. This round of funding puts iBiquity at over $172 million in total funding over the last decade.

[via BizJournals]